When Tyra Banks talks, you listen. And when she revealed that she lost her Los Angeles home in one of the city’s infamous wildfires, we all collectively gasped, clutched our pearls, and checked our smoke alarms.
During an interview on the Australian morning show Sunrise, the 51-year-old supermodel, business mogul, and queen of smizing dropped the news casually—as if she wasn’t talking about something as catastrophic as her house going up in flames.
“I lost my house,” Tyra revealed, her trademark composure intact. “I haven’t really talked about it, um, but yeah, I have.”
Tyra! GIRL! That’s not just something you slip into conversation like it’s last night’s Netflix pick.
She explained why she kept this bombshell under wraps: “I didn’t want to pull a lot of attention to me. I feel like there are a lot of people that need that attention.” Classic Tyra—always thinking about others. Meanwhile, the rest of us would be making sure the whole world knew we needed a GoFundMe ASAP.
How Did She Find Out?
Here’s where things get even more Tyra-level dramatic. She was in Australia at a friend’s house, living it up, when she got the devastating news.
“I just kept checking my phone,” she said, adding that she wasn’t even obsessing about her house—she was more concerned about friends and family evacuating. (Meanwhile, I can’t even handle the WiFi dropping.) Tyra asked her partner, Louis Bélanger-Martin, to confirm what she was seeing. His reaction? A solemn nod. And that’s when Tyra went full pro.
“I just pulled it together,” she shared, because apparently, Tyra Banks does not ugly cry in public like the rest of us mortals. Instead, she held it in, kept her cool, and stayed in the moment. Iconic.
The Aftermath
Of course, even a supermodel has her breaking point. “Then we went home and we cried, and we had our moment,” she admitted. And you know what? They deserved that moment. Losing your house is no joke.
Thankfully, Tyra and her family split their time between Australia and New York, so they didn’t lose everything. But some mementos were lost in the blaze, and Tyra acknowledged the emotional weight of it all. “It’s tough,” she said, in a tone that suggested she was trying not to use stronger words.
The Takeaway
If there’s one thing we can learn from Tyra’s story, it’s that life will throw curveballs, and you’ve got to smize through the tears. And maybe, just maybe, double-check your insurance policy.
Tyra, you’re a class act. Now excuse us while we rewatch every episode of America’s Next Top Model in your honor.
